The Yannick Carrasco We’ve All Been Waiting For

Atlético Madrid winger Yannick Carrasco’s career has been a weird and wonderful tale of inconsistency and big-game performances, but we could now be seeing that all come together to form a more complete and well-rounded version of himself.

For the first time in his career, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco scored and assisted in the same UEFA Champions League game late on Wednesday evening to fire Atleti into the knockout stages of the competition. Just 18 days after the Belgian international nutmegged Marc-Andre Ter Stegen at centre-stage in the Wanda Metropolitano to award Diego Simeone that elusive first career LaLiga victory over Barcelona, so it’s safe to say; it’s been a good week for Los Rojiblancos.

Carrasco has looked like a completely new player in the opening half of the season. The introduction of Mario Hermoso to Atleti’s backline has given the Belgian a more prominent defensive role on the left flank. A role that he plays well for his country.

A role that he’s now confidently embraced for his club.

Atleti scored their first of the game against the run of play in the Red Bull Arena, with Carrasco sending a perfectly weighted inswinger for Hermoso to knock home and give the Spaniards a commanding lead.

The second came not long after Dominik Szoboszlai squandered a perfect chance one-on-one with Jan Oblak, splitting the Atlético Madrid scrum inside the box and slotting it just wide of the target. A perfect through ball in the second half from Kieran Trippier to Ángel Correa opened up space for Carrasco to run unguarded into the far side of the box and volley the game out of reach for the home side, securing Atleti’s place in the last 16.

This performance wasn’t a flash in the pan for Carrasco, however.

His improvement in almost every major statistical category from last season is one of the key reasons Atlético Madrid are favourites to lift the LaLiga title for the first time since 2014.

One of the most telling categories is yards progressed per 90. Carrasco being deployed in a hybrid left-wing role gives him more room to operate. Receiving the ball in a deeper position means there is space to open the throttle and make the most of the blistering pace he possesses. Combine that with 3.54 successful dribbles per 90 (67% dribble success) and you have a quick and efficient way of driving the ball up the pitch and into key areas.

Exactly what Cholo Simeone needed in this team to best utilise a slightly less mobile strike unit of Diego Costa and Luis Suárez in the box.

The Belgian’s improvements don’t stop there. His xA per 90 has increased from 0.09 last season to 0.26 this season, and his open-play shot-creating actions have risen by 0.86 per 90, so the positional change would indicate that given a little more time and space to pick his passes, Carrasco can operate as a more effective creator as well as a deadly slashing winger.

Carrasco is running more than he ever has with Atleti and his decision-making is visibly more calculated in this system. His pass completion has gone from 75.8% to 81.2% which is an exceptional accuracy rate for a wide attacking player, and he has more than double his passes into the box per 90 minutes which has, and should continue to bear fruit with the finishing Atleti possess upfront.

An often frustrating player to watch in the past, Carrasco now looks more mature and appears closer than ever to reaching the potential that’s followed him throughout his career.

From the outside, it appears Diego Simeone has shifted his tactical philosophy to reward the creative players with a licence to do what they do best. Create.

Yannick Carrasco isn’t the only player to have stepped his game up in the last few months. João Félix finally looks like the player Atleti obliterated their transfer record for, and Thomas Lemar has contributed quality in a consistent run of games for the first time in what feels like years.

The shackles are very much off this season. The runners can run, the slashers can slash and after a period of slower, more stale attacking tactics, Atlético Madrid is now once again a team to be feared.